In the Moment

So, if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, it might have been hard to miss the fact that I am from Kansas City, and that our baseball team, the Kansas City Royals, just won their first World Series in 30 years. If you are a baseball person (or you watched my tweets through nail-biter games that stretched to 14 and 12 innings), you know that the Kansas City Royals have built a reputation for being a team that doesn’t quit, doesn’t get discouraged, and that will keep on working to create opportunities even if they are down late in the game. Now, it might be hard to believe from my social media presence lately (or from the fact that I have now referenced the Royals in two separate blog posts), but I am not a huge baseball fan, normally. I’m not a huge sports person, normally.

However, like so many others, I have found myself absolutely pulled in to the experience of this particular Royals team. And, last week, I was able to recognize one of the factors that I appreciate the most about how they play. I was listening to an interview about the Royals, particularly about their success in come-from-behind victories. And the interviewee said something like this, “These guys aren’t focused on making up for a mistake, or on their image. They focus on what needs to happen right now–the pitch, the swing, the catch, the throw. They are fully in the moment, and that keeps them in the game.”

In that moment, a bell rang for me. The Royals players are practicing baseball mindfulness. Instead of listening to the relentless peanut gallery–in the stands or in their heads–they are completely engaged in the task at hand. They are in the moment. And being in that moment allows them to succeed, even when the odds are fully against them. Because the odds don’t have any pull when you are creating your own experience from moment to moment.

So, my invitation to you today is to be in the moment. Set aside your distractions. Hit the mute button on your inner peanut gallery. Allow yourself to focus on what needs to happen right now. Then do that.

Feel free to let me know an “in the moment” experience in the comments!